


Turning the Key (to Her Heart)

by GuyOfShy



Series: Locked Tomb fics [15]
Category: The Locked Tomb Trilogy | Gideon the Ninth Series - Tamsyn Muir
Genre: Discord: The People's Tomb (Locked Tomb Trilogy), F/F, Fluff, The People's Tomb Fic Jam: First
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:55:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26911744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuyOfShy/pseuds/GuyOfShy
Summary: After a key is realized through confessions, together Gideon and Harrow unbury their true feelings and explore their relationship as they explore Canaan House.
Relationships: Gideon Nav/Harrowhark Nonagesimus
Series: Locked Tomb fics [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1937449
Comments: 5
Kudos: 48





	Turning the Key (to Her Heart)

That day, Harrow's heart bled new blood of a new color for Gideon Nav. Warmth melted the ice in her fingers, her lips; it hemorrhaged into her veins, capillaries, and bones.

Harrowhark would not allow a single act of affection to be witnessed. She hid every kiss within their quarters, every hug in private behind Ninth reticence. She held her love with Gideon closer to her chest than any House secret to which she wanted no other spectators.

This was an honor that Gideon did not anticipate. She reveled in Harrow's amicable attention, so much so that she wished to share her glee with every other candidate in Canaan House, even to Teacher and the skeletal servants; anyone who would listen. But she bit her tongue and shared the secret with her necromancer alone, knowing that Harrow would sic an army of skeledudes on her the moment she revealed themselves to anyone. Harrow insisted that it would give leverage to their enemies, knowing that they could threaten their bond so easily, and while that may have been true Gideon also knew it would flush her pale cheeks faster and redder than they ever had before.

The other cavaliers noticed Gideon the Ninth exchange her black, glassy rapier for her longsword, permission to wield her preferred weapon granted by her adept. The other adepts noticed the lighter way that the Reverend Daughter carried herself around Gideon. That the bags under her eyes hidden by her paint, that originally rounded out the hollow skull effect in her eyes, began to fill in rather healthily. How she invested some of her weight into her cavalier, secured herself in her shadow. The previously at-odds duo shared more words and more looks, with Gideon often smiling as Harrowhark let slip the slightest amount of emotion through her painted veil.

They held more patience for each other. Harrow cracked the smallest of smirks at Gideon's utterly stupid remarks. Gideon lowered her reluctance to cooperate and trusted her necromancer easily. Transmuted were Gideon’s words to Harrow’s ears - previously stifling and frustrating - now all worthy of consideration. Harrow could access her partner's thalergy without as much exertion on her own part, and Gideon could relinquish it herself to the deathly grip with less pain and exhaustion. They were inseparable at all hours as they swiftly conquered the palace, heightening the worries of the other adepts and cavaliers. 

Harrow communicated her feelings very clearly through more notes: her apparently preferred form of communication with Gideon, since she could not yet bring herself to admit her emotions aloud yet. She passed it off as her passively cold indifference, all to maintain some semblance of normalcy in their relationship, but Gideon saw straight through all the icy shoulders, face paint, and wraith-like garb to that shriveled little heart of hers that she loved so fucking much. And of that love, Gideon reminded her constantly, lest she begin to doubt herself ever again.

"Doubt yourself and you doubt me. Us," she'd said, and hammered that home by hugging Harrowhark in the longest and only embrace she had ever received. Gideon bowed their foreheads together in the salty pool; glassy black eyes staring helplessly and hopefully into smoldering amber. "You're gonna carry that weight. If you drop, I'll be right there to pick you back up."

"I don't know that I c-"

"So you were dealt a heavy hand. You're the best bitch at turning bad hands that I've ever laid eyes on. You can turn the tiniest little stub of the tiniest little pinky bone into a full-fledged construct every bit as man as I am. I'm glad to have a necromancer as capable as you."

Harrow proved her devotion and belief in them by awkwardly inviting Gideon to sleep in her bed. Harrow promptly turned over and away from her, curling into her fetal knee-tuck position, protecting her heart from melting near Gideon. But the mattress shifted, and a strong arm laid over Harrow's side, sturdy abs pressed against her back, and Gideon’s calloused hand holding her own. Harrow said nothing, made no noise, but flushed silently and got a full night's rest for the first time that she could remember.


End file.
